For the third time, the Escondido City Council has decided to hold onto $10 million set aside two years ago for a new downtown library. The project it submitted for a $20 million state grant from the last library bond failed twice to make the grant list. Maybe the third time will be the charm.

Maybe state voters will pass a $600 million library-construction bond in June. Maybe state officials, who have promised that projects rejected in the past two years will get priority in consideration, will see fewer flaws in Escondido's plan, or more flaws in some other locality's.

It would have helped with the evaluation if the Escondido Union School District had offered more commitment in what was supposed to be a joint grant application. The city's proposal, after all, is in large part predicated on helping students and families in underperforming downtown schools with homework and English proficiency.

Or maybe even the state's $20 million added to the city's $10 million still won't cover the cost of library construction, up in some instances by 15 percent. Councilman Ed Gallo wondered aloud whether the city could afford a new library, and new public safety facilities, and a new hotel project. "Maybe," he suggested, "there's another Carnegie out there to fund the library."

Will he or she please step forward?

Some council members had previously pledged, absent the state match, to use that $10 million to pay down an $84.3 million public-safety bond voters approved last November – and thus keep property tax increases down. Part of that $10 million, in fact, came from the city's police and fire facility fund.

After two years, however, Gallo and Councilman Sam Abed concluded that waiting for the next round of state grants will be worth $20 million – if the city gets it. If not, well, Gallo spoke for himself – and we hope the rest of the council: "I'm not going past three strikes."